Seven Quick Takes: Volume 28 // Theme Thursday

Jan. 24, Feast of St. Frances de Sales, bishop and doctor.  Memorial of Our Lady of Peace.

A scene from my friend's wedding last weekend.  For more photos from the wedding, see below.

-- 1 --

The Kumquat Festival ushers in early spring cleaning.  I actually took a personal day from work because otherwise I'd never have managed.  We're clearing out, gathering up, and tucking away.  The plan is to hold a yard sale tomorrow (my first!).  If you have any advice about how to best direct a sale of this type to be the most lucrative, the comment box is down below. (*points*)

As for clothes (mommy & baby), I have an inner criteria that go something like this:

• Do I still like it?
• Does it look good on me?
• Do I still wear it?
• Have I worn it in a year?
• Do I fit in it?
• Will I ever use it again (honestly)?
• Does it have sentimental value?
• Did someone I love give it to me?
• Did whoever gave it to me mean it as a special present?

It's surprisingly easy to weed things out by these.  Many of the clothes I'm holding onto answer a resounding "no" to all of the questions above.

-- 2 --

While we're executing this project, I'm listening to the latest Audrey Assad CD my sister gave me.  I knew it would be a beautiful album because of the songs I had heard on YouTube and blogs, but I didn't guess that every song would be moving (with maybe the exception of Track 2, whose name I don't know, but I have to disclaim my exceptionally picky and temperamental sense of taste in music).

As a synthesis of liturgical, medieval chant, psalm, and actual prayer, it's incredibly moving and passes well beyond into the realm of Art with a capital A.  I think your average Christian pop radio tune is praise, but that's only one kind of prayer.  Audrey's songs are the deep internal groanings of the soul searching for God, the pilgrim aching for home never seen.

Jenna introduced me to this one, and it hits far too close to home for me to hear it without shedding a tear:

From the love of my own comfort

From the fear of having nothing

From a life of worldly passions

Deliver me O God

From the need to be understood

From the need to be accepted

From the fear of being lonely

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And I shall not want, I shall not want

when I taste Your goodness I shall not want

when I taste Your goodness I shall not want

From the fear of serving others

From the fear of death or trial

From the fear of humility

Deliver me O God

Deliver me O God

And please pray for her husband.  My sister tells me he has cancer.  Again and again, God has shown me that in a mystery I don't understand, those who are most precious to him experience the most suffering.  If you love Jesus, you love the Cross.  The two can't be separated.  And in the darkest moments, the fact that the former comes with the latter, is sometimes the only comfort.  But it is utterly sufficient.

-- 3 --

The Squirt's birthday is coming up soon, and seeing as he has little friends to invite this year, I really want to throw him a birthday party.  It's the day before Valentine's Day, so I was thinking about the weekend before.  I already know a lovely lady who makes delicious cakes, so that's set.  As for the rest, it will have to be low key for financial reasons, but I am all. about. themes.  Right now, it's a toss-up between St. Valentine's Day and Where the Wild Things Are.

What kind of themes and birthday party life-hacks have you implemented?

-- 4 --

This week's Theme Thursday was catching people unawares.  Oh Cari, what will you think of next?

-- 5 --

My nephew will be baptized into the Body of Christ this Sunday.  I'm sad I won't be able to be there, but will you remember him in your prayers this weekend?  I don't have permission yet to use his name on this blog, so you can just refer to him as "Christie's nephew."  c:  Thank you!

-- 6 --

Haley sweetly shared Everything to Someone over on Carrots for Michaelmas, which delights me because I respect Haley for her thoroughly good literary taste and have turned to her well-established practice of liturgical living in striking out on my own liturgical lifestyle.  Someone must have acted on her advice and nominated EtS for Bonnie's Sheenazing Catholic Bloggers Award, in two divisions.  Like in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where the points don't matter, the only reward for winning is the sparkly-smug self-satisfaction . . . but that works for me!  And it's just really fun.  We need more fun for fun's sake.

Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us!

-- 7 --

Links I love this week:

Wardrobe Adjustments--Being Pretty by Masha at Piękno
How to Keep the SAINT in St. Valentine's Day by Madni at Messy Wife, Blessed Life
A Bloody Anniversary by Leila of Little Catholic Bubble
Getting Started with Homeschooling at Sure as the World
23 Things to Do at 23 (No Matter Your Relationship Status) by Molly at Molly Makes Do
Kyle Andrews's "You Always Make Me Smile" music video on Yotube (definitely makes me smile)  c;

There's more Quick Takes, or so I'm told, at Jen's.

Theme Thursday: Mess

Dec. 26, Second Day of Christmas.  Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, who was stoned in Jerusalem two years after the death of Christ and is patron of coffin makers, deacons, headaches, horses, and masons.

Santa's workshop?

I don't know about everyone else, but Advent flew by for me this year.  So I'm still putting together presents.  Got some inspiration from Santa's helper here, and I'm loving it.  Scrap-booking, collages, and basic paper-crafting are things I enjoy and have readily available, so it's the perfect option for me.  Even though it makes a mess!  No pictures of the finished products yet because some of you will probably get some in the mail before the Christmas season ends.

Happy Christmastide!  Here's one of my favorite carols to listen to while you drink hot chocolate and eat lots of Boxing Day leftovers!

Theme Thursday is hosted by Cari at Clan Donaldson.  Go and make messes merry!

Five Favorites (vol. 9)

1.  Angry Orchard hard cider.  Sweet, wet not dry, and like taking a bite from an apple that bites back.

2.  Blush and rose "gold" bracelet.  If this were in any other color, I wouldn't look twice at it.  But I love rose gold, and it's so flattering with the pale pink blush color.

3.  Milk--the Squirt's pick.  Record consumption is one gallon in a day and a half.  We drink organic 2%.  Well, he does.  I like vanilla flavored, no sugar added almond milk.

4.  Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive."  The music video is insane, in a good way.

Me:  I like this song.  Who sings it?
Sister:  Imagine Dragons.
Me:  . . . !
Sister:  ?
Me:  Best.  Band name.  EVER.

5.  Tulips.  So much right now.  I don't know if I've just never noticed before, but they are everywhere in the stores this time of year.  Maybe it's just a phase, but I'm sort of obsessed.  I like them in yellows, or the singed-tangerine color pictured here.

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Five Favorites hosted at Moxie Wife.  Thanks, Hallie!

The 10 "Perfect" Songs

From Jessica at That's Just the Way My Face Is, who nabbed it from another blog.  Here you go Jessica, I'm sorry I came too late to Folk & Faerie, but we can still get to know each other, right?

For the rest of you, old friends and new readers, what does my taste in music reveal about me?

The First Single You Ever Purchased

A long phase; I probably own more DC CD's (LOL--OMG! acronyms) than any other band/musician.  To be perfectly honest here, I still like Dashboard Confessional.

A Song From the First CD You Ever Purchased

This is the only song I can recall off the top of my head from that album.  And there's been a couple of remakes, so. . .

The First Song You Remember Your Parents Listening to that You Did Not Hate

I jumped on my parents' already-made bed, kicking off covers and pillows and screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs, circa age six.  It was one of my favorite things to do.

Guilty Pleasure Song

I know, Black Eyed Peas is designed to be catchy, pop-culture music fodder that is ideal for car commercials.  As Robert California from The Office says, "It's rock and roll for people who don't like rock and roll; it's rap for people who don't like rap; it's pop for people who don't like pop."  And heck yes, it totally works because I love this song.

EDIT:  I watched the video after I posted it; not recommended for unnecessarily graphic sexuality (c'mon guys, couldn't it have just been about having a good night out on the town?).  Don't play the video or leave it open on the computer if there's a risk of a child getting to it.

Song You Dance to when No One's Around

Everything I know about dancing I learned from Shakira.

EDIT:  Same as above, but not as bad.

The First Song You Slow Danced To

Don't remember.  But it was probably with my husband, unless you count tearful graduation party dancing with my girlfriends.

Song You Played Out Because You Loved It So Much when It Was New

It was one of those CD's that only has a few really unique songs; the other ones get worn out pretty quickly.  So by the end of the summer I was tired of this one.

The Song You Want to Dance to at Your Wedding

And did.  c:

Favorite Song by Your Favorite Artist

It was this or "Rabbit Heart," I love them both really, but this is more recent.  The music video is cleverly gnostic, which follows up well on the pagan-mystery-cult music video of "Rabbit Heart."  Florence is obviously a well-read, educated, liberal arts type, so I'm hoping . . . next album is Catholic?  (Dante, Da Vinci, Michelangeo: not a bad crowd to follow.)

*fingers crossed*  Less likely things have happened.

Favorite Song of All Time

It used to be Greenday's "Time of Your Life."

Wildcard

Just a Youtube gem.  And an award-winning, beautifully illustrated, masterfully-told anime, by the way.

Wildcard

I'm a dork.  It was either this or Crosby, Stills, and Nash's "Cathedral," but you're much more likely to have heard that song.  c;

Quid est veritas?

Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.

Truth?  What is truth?

Songs for a Saturday

We're dancing like fools this morning.  Won't you join us?

1.  You have to watch the video with this one.  It is uh-mazing.

CAUTION: May ring in your ears if you're especially irked by whiny singing.  He's got much better, believe it or not.

2.  By the same artist, a very humorous song.  I love Dashboard Confessional's wordplay.

Ideal for harmonizing to.  At the top of your lungs.  When you're all alone in the apartment.

3.  Been a fave for years now.

4.  Okay, so far so acoustic.  Let's pick up the pace.

Also a cool video to watch.

5.  This one is for all those who have shaped my life, especially when it seems like we've lost touch.  You're never very far from me.  <3